Hi guys!
Before starting I want to thank Celridel for her immense help.
Let's remember that our heroes have gone to Isengard. What will happen there? What will happen between Marrow and Kitty?
Waiting for your reviews, guys!
Chapter 29: Marrow
"It's good. Definitely, from the Shire." Merry chuckled delightedly. "Longbottom Leaf, huh?"
"I feel like I'm back at the 'Green Dragon'!" answered Pippin.
After the fall of Isengard into the hands of the Ents, the hobbits had found Saruman's store room full of any kind of viands from fruit to pork, from water to ale, even herbs for smoking like Longbottom Leaf. The hobbits immediately had taken enough food to sustain an army and were enjoying a real feast.
"Hmm… 'Green Dragon'?" asked Merry, leaning back.
"A mug of ale in my hand, putting my feet up on a settle after a hard day's work." answered Pippin
"Only, you've never done a hard day's work!" retorted the Brandybuck.
In that moment, they heard horse footsteps and a couple of moments later, they spotted the six horsemen that have come from Helm's Deep. Merry stood up, but Pippin did not stir.
"Welcome, my lords… to Isengard! We are the door wardens. The Lord Saruman is within; but at the moment he is closeted with one Wormtongue, or doubtless he would be here to welcome such honorable guests."
"Doubtless he would!" laughed Gandalf. "And was it Saruman that ordered you to guard his damaged doors, and watch for the arrival of guests, when your attention could be spared from plate and bottle?"
"No, good sir, the matter escaped him," answered Merry gravely. "He has been much occupied. Our orders came from Treebeard, who has taken over the management of Isengard."
"And what about your companions? What about Legolas and me?" cried Gimli. "You rascals, you woolly-footed and wool-pated truants! A fine hunt you have led us! Two hundred leagues, through fen and forest, battle and death, to rescue you! And here we find you feasting and idling – and smoking! Smoking! Where did you come by the weed, you villains? Hammer and tongs! I am so torn between rage and joy, that if I do not burst, it will be a marvel!"
"You speak for me, Gimli!" laughed Legolas, overcome with relief.
Kitty, who had come through the gateway last, leapt off her horse upon hearing the voices. "Merry! Pippin!" She hugged both of them tightly.
"We thought the Orcs had killed you." said Pippin, at last removing his pipe from his mouth.
Kitty jerked her head towards the direction of Éomer, who was watching the Hobbits with keen interest. "The Rohirrim Leader, Éomer killed the Orcs, and thus I was-kind of-rescued. What of you?"
"We had had many an adventures in the Fangorn Forest." answered Merry.
"Yes, and now we feast upon the field of victory , enjoying a few well-earned comforts. The salted pork is particularly good." Pippin added, grinning at Gimli.
"Maybe a little later, right now we've came for some important matters." said Kitty, smiling "But certainly you must keep me a piece of meat, I'm hungry." she add mischievously.
"Hobbits!" called Gandalf sharply. "Have you seen Marrow?"
"Marrow?" said Pippin "No, quite fortunately, we have not for quite a while."
There was a silence, and then a female voice said. "Why do you ask for me? Here I am, Gandalf. What do you want to talk about?"
The Rohirric horses stamped and whinnied in fear, and their riders grasped their swords. From the shadows of the encroaching forest stepped a woman, followed by four Uruk-Hai. She was dressed in black armor that ended in sharp thorns, and six enormous razor sharp thorns protruded from her back, and she smiled at them.
Marrow had watched her victims come. They came with two unexpected individuals, but nevertheless unwanted: King Théoden and the Marshall, Éomer. It seemed that luck was smiling upon her once more. If those two died, Rohan would have no head and would be very easy to destroy, once the three heads were killed, Théoden, Éomer, and preferably Éowyn. Once that happen, a large army would not be needed to destroy Rohan,... but no! Saruman had to make life difficult and spoil everything. The presence of those six horsemen only showed Marrow that the battle at Helm's Deep had been won by the men and that the huge army of Uruk-Hai had been annihilated.
Marrow cursed at the wizard. Thanks to his stupidity, she would not have an army for herself now, but ... there was consolation: she could kill those eight, and in that way she would give a mortal blow to the entire world of Men.
"Well, Gandalf, you were looking for me and here you have me," Marrow repeated, stepping from the shadows of trees and advancing down the slope with her Uruk. "What do you want?"
"Saruman was waiting for us. He expected this." murmured Théoden.
At this, Marrow laughed. "Saruman, Saruman!" she said derisively, "Saruman is an old fool. He's not worthy of a mutant comrade, not worthy of a descendant of the Blue Wizards help him!" She tilted her head mockingly at Kitty, seeing the puzzlement in some of the riders' faces. "They do not know? The Blue Wizards were like Gandalf or Saruman. All the mutants descends from them. Did you know, Shadowcat? "
Kitty stared calmly at the mutant. "Yes, I know," she answered calmly. "Lady Galadriel has told me. The two Blue Wizards traveled to our home-realm, the Earth, and as they spent a lot of time on Earth, they became inhabitants there. As Earth's inhabitants, they fell in love, married and had children who were half-human and half Maiar. They were the first mutants and from there we descended all that we have the Gen X, that is, the mutants."
Marrow laughed. "So, the blondie told you the story? Apparently, she's smarter than the old Saruman. Well, Shadowcat, since you know the true origin of the mutants, I propose you a deal: join Avalanche and I, leave these poor fools and join those who really worth it "
"No." answered Kitty instantly.
"Think about it, Shadowcat," Marrow crooned. "We are powerful enough to beat Saruman, even ... we could overthrow Sauron…..we could rule."
The horsemen looked to each other in horror. So, the mutants though they could throw down the Dark Lord of Mordor. What power then had they to even think of such a thing?
Marrow grinned at them, still approaching down the slope. "If you help us, Shadowcat, we could do it. For a long time the mutants we have been subjugated, persecuted only for the only crime of being born different, but now ... now is the time to take the power that corresponds to us! What do you do with all these inferior beings?" She added pointing contemptuously. "Even the Elves are but monkeys compared to us!" Her voice had risen to a frantic pitch, but she dropped it again into a persuasive murmur. "What do you say, Shadowcat?"
"No." replied Kitty, her arms folded defiantly. "You don't realize what you are risking. Betraying Sauron will cost you dearly, He may be crazy, but He is not stupid. In addition, those you call 'poor fools' are my friends! And I'll fight for them. That's what X-Men do!"
Marrow's convincing voice died away into a sharp, scornful laugh. "Do you think you're an X-Man? Look around you Shadowcat! You are no longer on Earth! And even if you were, there are no longer the X-Men! They were all dead, including Professor X! What do you mean you're an X-Men? The X-Men have disappeared for a long time, and you are now in another realm where X-Men are just words that no one understands! So…"
"I do not care!" Kitty yelled, clenching her fists violently " I'm still an X-Man! I'm still Shadowcat! And as such, I will keep fighting and I will never leave my friends behind!"
Marrow narrowed her eyes menacingly. "Since you have asked for it, you can die along with your friends."
It was Gimli, already off Arod, who whispered to the hobbits. "Run! Go and get your friends the Ents!" Silently the Hobbits stole away, as Marrow charged at Kitty, throwing her darts. Kitty ducked but that did not save her from getting a deep scratch on her side.
A terrible battle broke. All had dismounted save Théoden and Éomer, who more accustomed on fighting on horseback, but the Uruk-Hai appeared indestructible, and they focused on the remainder of the Fellowship, not the Rohirrim Leaders. Their armor was like their maker's, black, covered with sharp thorns, and unbreakable. They were taller, cleverer than the ones at Helm's Deep.
"Their armor has no weak points!" shouted Aragorn.
"Make them swerve and strike at their heart!" cried Legolas, seeing the fine seam at the chest where the mail was forged.
Gimli cursed under his breath. This was little more than impossible.
Théoden had come boldly to help Aragorn, while Éomer approached to support to Gimli It seemed Marrow had taken all the strengths of her victims into account while she created the Uruk, each creature specifically to fight against them. Iron and spells were alike useless against them.
"Oh! My old fool Gandalf!" said Marrow laughingly, ducking under Kitty's grasp. "Do you think your spells will stop them? When I created them, I put part of my blood in them as well. It will not be one of your magic tricks will stop them. After all, we are in Middle-Earth, the land of magic, the land where our mutant abilities potentially increase ... ah! But I guess you know that, too!"
A deep, rumbling voice and the thud of long strides broke into them. "Hooo-hmmmmm! More orcs!"
Without a pause, Treebeard had kicked one of the Uruk flying, sending it smashing against one of the beams of Isengard. Merry and Pippin rode on his shoulders, and behind him came a dozen other Ents, bearing great boulders and stones with which to crush the Uruk.
Marrow, seeing that her Uruk were being destroyed by the Ents, , noticed that Treebeard was the one who led them. She shook Kitty off her, who was attacking viciously, and was about shoot one of her darts in Treebeard's face, when the biting pain of a wound in her back made her scream and turn round. It had been Legolas who had taken up his formidable bow and shot a sure arrow in one of the small cracks in her formidable armor.
In response, Marrow hurled a dozen of the thorns, suddenly a swiftly, but a person hugged him tightly, and the darts passed through the Elf's body.
Marrow realized suddenly she did not have many options. Her Uruk had been defeated. Immediately she fired a couple of dozen thorns all around, forcing them to throw themselves to the ground, and fled. She might not have been able to destroy the Fellowship, but Kitty would follow her, and she could kill Shadow-cat. But if she did not, she always had the recourse to go to Mordor and finisher revenge.
Kitty let go of Legolas without even a glance, and dashed after Marrow, dodging the wreckage of fallen pillars, deeper into the heart of Isengard.
"Legolas! Are you well?" asked Aragorn, wearily sheathing Anduril.
The Elf frowned, astonished. Yes, he was fine.
"You're wounded, Elf." Gimli explained, leaning on his axe.
Legolas turned sharply and saw that his clothes were stained with blood. But that blood was not his was ... it was Kitty's!
"Oh Válar!" he exclaimed, anguished. Whether he still felt all the old rage at her was inconsequential. At the worst she was a comrade who must be looked at after, and so he fled after her.
Gimli cursed under his breath. "Bah! The fools!" and followed the Elf, who was leaping over the jetsam.
Gandalf shook his head. "We must get Saruman before he flees. Come with me!"
Kitty had reached a dilapidated building that was part of the pits from which the army Uruk had been created. Marrow had disappeared without a trace, but Kitty was certain she was in there. She entered the clayey slope hesitantly. She would kill Marrow, the mutant who had murdered her best friend, and she had a wild hope that she might be able to convince Avalanche, her old lover, who was not as daring nor as cruel as Marrow.
A hail of thorns seemed to surround her. Kitty ducked down, entering the phasing state instantly. The mocking laughter of Marrow echoed around the rickety ladders and mud pits.
Kitty looked around, tense, still remaining in the phasing state as another thorn came from the shadows. "You bitch! What! Are you afraid of facing a mutant?" shouted Kitty.
"I'm no coward!" A female voice answered behind her.
Kitty did not even have time to turn around because at that moment, Marrow leapt upon her, hurling her to the slimy earth, ready to impale her, but Kitty slipped from the mutant's grasp, and grabbed Marrow's legs. Marrow jumped and threw her away.
"You damn bitch!" Kitty screamed again, on her feet. "You murdered Boromir! Why do you need to kill more people?"
Marrow raised an eyebrow in mocking surprise. "Were you in love, Shadowcat? I didn't think you liked me so much older than you! ! Nor did I think you wanted to have a boyfriend after what happened with Colossus!"
Kitty clenched her teeth.
"Call me names all you want." Marrow said, shrugging. "That man was a simple monkey, beneath me and you in the evolutionary chain. He deserved to die." She stopped, seeing an expression of hatred in Kitty's face, and then added. "Do you want to know how I killed him?"
That was more than enough. Kitty screamed and launched into the attack in such a way that Marrow barely had time to stop her furious blows. Kitty was not only using her mutant skill, she also used her sword in a way that put Marrow in trouble.
The knowledge that Kitty had gained thanks to Ogun was returning, and Kitty fought with more zeal and agility, so that Marrow was badly injured in the left arm and received a deep, if not mortal, sword cut at the side.
Marrow slipped aside suddenly, dashing through the pools of water that had flooded this place when the Ents had broken down the dam. Kitty immediately threw herself behind her, sword in hand.
Kitty and Marrow had run swiftly, that Legolas had lost sight of him, but his heart, and the sight of their tracks in the muddy ground led him swift and sure, into the stone-built building, covered with slime and deep pools of water. He stopped and looked around. The footsteps of both combatants and blood were clearly visible. Surely, they were both wounded. Legolas wondered how it was possible that Kitty was able to fight that mutant named Marrow when apparently, not even Saruman could do it. Though the revelation that the mutants were descendants of the two Blue Wizards explained much.
A panting and heavy and steps, made him turn sharply with his bow, but her lowered, seeing Gimli. "Calm down!" gasped the Dwarf, sliding to a halt. "Where is Kitty?"
Suddenly, a metallic clang that echoed over and over.
Marrow had taken a great battle-axe and in the other hand she wielded one of her longest and thorns. Kitty used the sword Boromir had given her. They were balancing on a narrow steel bridge, that overlooked a great rift in the earth, filled with water. Marrow had seen the Elf come in, and now she smirked. "Oh! How cute! " She exclaimed mockingly" I did not know that you would have gotten another boyfriend so fast! First Colossus, then the one called Boromir and now ... you have an Elf! Interesting! And the circus dwarf comes with him!"
Legolas stared up, unwilling to distract Kitty, and wondering how to help her. Arrows would be little loose at such an angle. It was Gimli's voice. "Elf, look there! Can you hit that target?"
Legolas turned to where the dwarf pointed to him and saw that it was a lever would more the steel bridge, hopefully near enough to the platform.
He notched an arrow to his bow and fired. The Elven-shaft struck hard and the metal grated as it swung. "Gimli!" he shouted, leaping to the platform. The Dwarf followed swiftly.
Marrow and Kitty had felt the violent trembling as the steel rods moved, and they grasped at the bars, unwilling to be cast down and impaled on the jutting rock spires. Kitty was not entirely sure, if she fell, she could pass through it. The pain of her side wound had been increasing, and the headache that had begun was growing into wild proportions. Bad timing for the damn Emma Frost to try to break into her mind! Kitty could not concentrate enough to resist the telepath mutant and, at the same time, fight Marrow.
Marrow gauged Kitty, thinking to use her as a springboard. The bridge was swinging slowly, when a voice called out. "Kitty! Give me your hand!" It was the Elf.
The young woman nodded, taking a huge leap back and tottered, feeling his strong grasp. But Marrow dropped her weapons, clinging to Kitty's legs. The bars were beginning to disintegrate and fall into the water below, and Marrow sought to climb up Kitty and reach the Elf. Once this was done, she would kill Elf and Dwarf, and flee to Mordor, and Kitty realized this, and decided to enter into phasing state.
Legolas's jaw clenched as his blue eyes met hers, and saw her resolution. "Kitty, do not." he murmured.
The soft rhythm of his voice amid all the noise pierced Kitty, and she felt anguish inside her.
The sight of his grief was terrible to her, she felt in her heart, it seemed. What was happening? But she was willing to give her life to keep Marrow from fleeing, so that Middle-Earth was free from that terrible enemy, to save the Fellowship, the King and Éomer, to ... to ... save his life, the life of the Elf.
Kitty nodded and entered phasing state as Marrow screamed, furious and terrified. But only one person fell, crushed into the rocky chasm. Gimli had reached out the handle of his axe to Kitty, who clung onto it desperately. The angle of the axe was awkward, but Gimli used it as a lever, till at last Legolas gathered her in his arms and lifted her onto the platform. Much to her grief, Kitty clutched at him wildly as her eyes began to darken.
"No, no, no! I have to stop her! I have to keep that damn witch out of my mind!" But blackness and silence surrounded her.
So finally Marrow have been defeated! What will Avalanche do when he knows this?
Waiting for your reviews, people!